"Editorial abstract illustration evoking the emotional arc of a song titled "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush. Dramatic quiet-to-loud arc, stormy climax. dense layered composition, atmospheric complexity. Mood: heavy, transcendent. Visual style: 1980s editorial aesthetic, neon accents against moody ground. Painterly, grainy film texture, muted palette with strategic accent colors. The composition should read left-to-right like a timeline — calm on one side, intensifying toward the other. Strictly no faces, no text, no logos, no literal objects, no band imagery. Pure color-field abstraction with emotional weight. 16:9 editorial format."
Running Up That Hill
Kate Bush
Hounds of Love (1985)
Real momentum, more energetic than 90% of our 19,209 measured songs.
92
BPM
Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush is 92 BPM — Andante (walking pace).
Half-time 46 BPM · Double-time 184 BPM · released 1985
Fan image for "Running Up That Hill"
An abstract illustration of what this song feels like. Each image is built from a prompt — the text description fed to the image generator. Listeners submit their own prompts, upvote the ones that fit best, and the top-voted prompt drives the next regeneration. After 100 image votes, we make a new picture.
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Find its sonic twinHidden gems like itDial itSongs like thisAll toolsRunning Up That Hill: The “Deal With God” That…
Song DNA
Notes: dramatic instrumentation, powerful vocals
Recommended for: deep listening emotional release meltdown recovery
An up, driving track. It lurches between soft and loud changing direction here and there — a busy track with a big, expressive vocal out front at an unhurried mid-tempo. It’s easy enough to follow without going flat. Across the library, it reads more energetic than 90% of everything we’ve measured.
Cultural Context
Defies genre categorization, blending art pop with emotional depth.
Listening Prompt
Focus on the emotional intensity of the vocal delivery.
What to Expect
Among the more sensory-demanding tracks in this set. Dynamic range of 9, moderate sudden changes, and complex texture combine to create significant variation in what you're receiving at any given moment. From Kate Bush's 1985 Hounds of Love, it runs at 92 bpm — a moderate pace — but the intensity isn't driven by tempo. The wide dynamic arc and layered arrangement carry the weight. Vocal style is dynamic, meaning the delivery shifts in register and force across the recording. Predictability is medium, so while the track has structure, it doesn't announce transitions clearly. Misophonia data wasn't collected. Rated intense, recommended for deep listening, emotional release, and meltdown recovery — an unusual combination suggesting its primary value is the emotional container it creates, not background utility. Set your volume for the peaks, not the opening. If moderate sudden changes tend to spike your stress response, this is not a first-choice recovery option, but on the right day it earns its place.
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Moods: heavy, transcendent
Intense — what to expect
"Running Up That Hill" is in our intense band.
At least one of our five sensory dimensions crosses the threshold that means "this can be a lot." Most commonly: dynamic vocals or complex texture, or a dynamic range of 9/10. The full breakdown is below. If you arrived here looking for a calmer alternative, our use-case verdicts section flags songs with similar mood but lower intensity.
How this song sits on each sensory axis
A dynamic range of 9/10 is in the upper band of our library. This song has a significant quiet-to-loud arc. For sensory-sensitive listening, set the opening volume well below your comfortable top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Sudden changes: present. This song uses surprise as a feature. For focus or background listening, it's likely to pull your attention away; for active listening, that's often the point.
Texture: complex.
Predictability is medium — conventional structure overall, with one or two moments that deviate from what you'd expect.
Vocal style: dynamic vocals.
Where this sits in Kate Bush's catalog
We have 22 songs from Kate Bush in the library. Of those, 6 are rated Safe, 9 Moderate, and 7 Intense. This song's dynamic range of 9/10 sits above the artist average of 6.5, making it the #2 most dynamic track of theirs in our library.
Other tracks from Hounds of Love
We have 10 songs from this album. Overall, the album leans moderate in sensory profile.
- Cloudbusting — moderate DR 7
- Hounds of Love — moderate DR 7
- The Big Sky — moderate DR 7
- Mother Stands for Comfort — moderate DR 5
- Waking the Witch — intense DR 9
- Under Ice — moderate DR 5
- Watching You Without Me — moderate DR 5
- Jig of Life — intense DR 8
- Hello Earth — safe DR 8
1985 context
Released in 1985. We have 186 songs from that year in our library, averaging a dynamic range of 6.4/10. This track is about average than the year average. Explore more from the 1980s.
Explore by mood and tradition
Guides that may help
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive…
How fast is "Running Up That Hill"?
92 BPM — Medium (midtempo / pop ballad)
For running
Too slow for most running; good for warm-up walks or cool-down.
For workouts
Warm-up, cool-down, yoga, stretching.
For daily life
Morning coffee, deep work, commute wind-down.
Browse more songs at 92 BPM.
When "Running Up That Hill" works, and when it doesn't
Use-case verdicts computed from the song's tempo, dynamics, and sensory profile.
✗
Focus / studying
No — too dynamic or too many surprises. Save for active listening.
✗
Running / workout
No — 92 BPM is too slow for sustained cardio.
✗
Sleep / winding down
No — contains elements that will keep an awake nervous system engaged.
~
Driving / road trip
Maybe — the intensity / sudden changes are fine for solo highway driving but skip for city or rainy-weather driving.
✗
Cooking / dinner background
No — too active to function as background; will pull attention away from what you're doing.
✓
Emotional release / catharsis
Yes — this is a song for actively feeling what you came to feel, not for background.
Related reading
Editorial guides that cover this song's use cases, moods, or artist.
Ranked: Kate Bush's albums by how much they overwhelm your senses
From the teenage terror of The Kick Inside to the oceanic sprawl of Aerial — we rank every Kate Bush album by dynamic range, sudden changes,…
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much
Music for Meltdown Recovery: What to Play When the World Is Too Much — A guide for sensory-sensitive listeners on musiciwant.com
I rated every Billie Eilish album by emotional intensity
From bedroom ASMR whispers to walls of distortion — a deep sensory dive into all three Billie Eilish studio albums and what each one actuall…
Why this rating
We rate this song Intense. Our rule is deliberately conservative: any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, harsh texture, or a strained/screamed vocal is enough to trigger Intense on its own. Full scoring rubric: methodology.
This song in the Music Studio
71/100 intensity
See how “Running Up That Hill” sits against your own sensitivities, or use it as a waypoint in a calmer set.
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Rating last reviewed: 2026-06-20. Reviewed by the Music I Want editorial team against the documented methodology.
Think this rating is wrong? Contact the editor — every message is read and ratings get revised.
By the numbers: how this song compares
Computed from this song’s place among the 19,209 songs we’ve measured.
Where it sits in 19,000 songs
This is one of the more intense things in our library — more energetic than 90% of the 19,209 songs we've measured. Its intensity reading of 71/100 comes from a dynamic range of 9/10, complex texture, moderate shifts, and dynamic vocals. Relatively few songs occupy this exact corner of the spectrum.
What makes it unusual
What stands out most about this song is a huge quiet-to-loud swing: more extreme on that axis than 96% of everything we've measured. At the far opposite end of the library sit the songs built on near-total stillness — steady volume, no surprises, a slow and unhurried pulse — the kind of track this one is the counterpoint to.
Feels almost identical to
In the Air Tonight — Phil Collins · 99%Hypnotize — The Notorious B.I.G. · 99%Malamente — Rosalía · 97%Live and Let Die — Guns N' Roses · 96%
Closest matches by feel across all 19,209 measured songs — not by genre or artist, by how they actually move.
What it’s good for
Sleep0/10
Focus2/10
Workout5/10
Dinner5/10
Party / hype5/10
Scored from this song’s tempo, intensity, dynamics and texture — not crowd votes.
1985 in context
The 186 songs we’ve measured from 1985 average a dynamic range of 6.4/10. At 9/10, this track is louder and more dynamic than its year.
Mixes smoothly with
Within a few BPM and close in feel — they flow without a jarring transition.
The fingerprint
Intensity71
Dynamics89
Tempo29
Surprise50
Density60
Predictability50
Vocal force75
Trigger load0
The 8-dimension measurement behind every rating on this page.
Frequently asked about "Running Up That Hill"
Quick answers pulled from the song's sensory analysis.
What is the BPM of "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush?
"Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush has a tempo of 92 BPM (Andante (walking pace)). At half-time that is 46 BPM, and at double-time 184 BPM.
What is the sensory intensity of "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush?
"Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush rates as Intense. Dynamic range 9/10, moderate sudden changes, complex texture, dynamic vocals vocal style. Any one of high dynamic range, present sudden changes, or harsh texture triggers the Intense rating.
How loud is "Running Up That Hill" — what is its dynamic range?
"Running Up That Hill" has a dynamic range of 9/10. Substantial quiet-to-loud arc. Start at a volume well below your top-end; the climax will land harder than the intro suggests.
Does "Running Up That Hill" have sudden or surprising changes?
Yes. "Running Up That Hill" uses surprise as a compositional feature. Expect unsignaled transitions.
What is "Running Up That Hill" best for?
In our library "Running Up That Hill" is recommended for: deep listening, emotional release, meltdown recovery. These tags are assigned only where the song's sensory profile genuinely supports the use case.
When was "Running Up That Hill" released?
"Running Up That Hill" is from 1985, on the album "Hounds of Love". It appears in our 1980s catalog.
What is the emotional mood of "Running Up That Hill"?
We tag "Running Up That Hill" as heavy, transcendent. Moods are tonal descriptors based on how the song reads emotionally — separate from the sensory intensity axes.
What is the vocal style of "Running Up That Hill"?
The vocal style is dynamic vocals.
Is "Running Up That Hill" good for running?
Not really — at 92 BPM it's below most running cadences. Better for warm-up, cool-down, or walking. Recreational runners typically step at 140-175 BPM.
Is "Running Up That Hill" good for studying?
Only partially. The song's dynamic range (9/10) means there will be loud moments that break focus during deep work.
Can I use "Running Up That Hill" for sleep?
Not recommended for sleep. Too intense overall.
Should I listen to "Running Up That Hill"?
"Running Up That Hill" is Intense in our ratings — dramatic dynamics, possible sudden changes, or strong vocal or textural energy. Best with intention rather than ambient use. If you are sensory-sensitive, the alternatives section surfaces calmer songs in the same mood family.
Songs with the same DNA
complex texture, similar intensity — across any genre or era.
Safer alternatives with a similar feel
These songs share similar moods but with a gentler sensory profile.
What this song means to people
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Where to next?
You know how this one feels — now go find the next one.